Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-10-Speech-4-033-000"
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"en.20110310.3.4-033-000"2
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"Mr President, first of all, I would like to thank everybody for their contributions. I can promise you that we give serious consideration to each of them. Let me first say a few words about the importance and relevance of social dialogue.
We fully recognise the importance of social dialogue and constructive industrial relations. We have continuously engaged with the social partners, both at EU level and in individual countries. For instance, Commissioner Rehn personally met with Ireland’s trade union leaders in early November, as did officials from the Commission, the ECB and the IMF when negotiating the programme in late November. They will continue to engage on the next mission in April and on subsequent occasions. By the way, contrary to some allegations, the Commission did not force Ireland to cut the minimum wage or social expenditure. These measures were already presented by the former Irish Government itself in its national recovery plan, together with other fiscal and structural measures aiming at economic stability, growth and job creation.
The legal basis of the economic policy conditions is Article 3(5) of Council Regulation (EU) No 407/2010 establishing a European financial stabilisation mechanism and Article 2(2) of the Council Implementing Decision 2011/77/EU on granting Union financial assistance to Ireland. Once again, both are grounded in Article 122(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The mere fact that the Memorandum of Understanding’s specific economic policy conditions touch upon various issues that are linked to social policy does not put into question the legal basis of the act. There appears to be no contradiction with Article 152 or Article 153(5). Article 152 is a general provision which does not exclude the possible need for specific measures with social consequences. Moreover, that provision does not create subjective rights for the social partners. Article 153(5) is a limit as regards the content of the measures that can be adopted under Article 153, i.e. social policy. Since the MoU is not adopted on the basis of Article 153, this limit does not apply.
The provisions of Title 10, social policy, cannot be disregarded. They have to be taken into account, but it does not mean that as a consequence of Article 153(5), no measures having an effect on pay can be adopted on the basis of Article 122. The measures adopted on the basis of Article 122 for Ireland do not regulate issues. They provide for conditions linked to the granting of Union assistance. This is explicitly allowed by Article 122(2). Therefore, there is no legal problem as regards the principle of conferral.
More generally, the issue of economic policy conditions is not about EU competences in the field of social policy or wages. The conditions included in the programme cover a wide range of policy areas, and for most of them, the competence lies with the Member State. The economic policy conditions of the programme are Member State commitments agreed with the EU and the IMF on the measures that the Member States will undertake in exchange for EU/IMF financing.
As a final note, the Commission fully acknowledged that any financial assistance programme naturally has social consequences. However, the main goal of the specific economic policy conditions attached to such a programme is to avoid much graver social consequences by setting the country back on the path of sustained growth and job creation."@en1
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